Battle Plans
by little wolf blossom
Summary: [Oneshot] Voldemort discusses his plans over a game of chess with Lucius Malfoy. Post HBP kind of pre 7th bookish...


Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.

Hello, this was written for a challenged issued by Ember Nickel.

Conditions:

Write a chess-related fic. Any era/length, no sexual content or OCs. Please use good grammar.

Bonus points for containing either of the dialogues:

"Zugzwang? Zugzwang isn't a verb."  
"Isn't a verb yet."

"How many more metaphors involving phoenixes are we going to go through?"  
"What's the plural of phoenix anyhow?"

This is a Oneshot only. So no other chapters will be added.

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**Battle Plans (1/1)**

Lord Voldemort sat on an old antique chair in a cold stone room. In front of him was an antique muggle chessboard. He whistled to himself as he set up the game. He only paused to look up as the door opened.

"My Lord, you owled?" Voldemort finished setting up and gestured to the empty chair.

"We need to discuss strategy, Lucius." Malfoy took the seat and looked at the chessboard. His eyes shifted from his Lord to the chessboard twice before he picked up a white pawn and moved it forward.

Voldemort looked at the board and choose to move his knight, and when he did, Lucius knew that the game had started.

"You see, Lucius, we've tried to kill Potter many times, yet nothing has worked. When your boy failed to kill Dumbledore, I was shocked. But now that I've done some thinking, I think it might work strongly in our favor."

Lucius moved a piece forward. "How so, My Lord? He's failed me many times in my life, I don't think he's reliable."

"Think for a minute, Lucius. If you threw him on the street, where would he go?" Lucius thought for a minute, while Voldemont moved his pawn forward.

"I suppose he'd go to Severus, if he knew where Severus was staying." Malfoy shrugged as he studied the board.

"Yes, but since he doesn't know where Snape is, he would run to Potter and his friends. He is in Slytherin, he would do anything to save his skin. Say we were to place a tracking charm on him. Wouldn't that work out well?"

"That is a good plan My Lord, but would Potter let him in so easily? They hate each other." Lucius moved his bishop forward and cringed as a pawn was forcefully taken.

"He will do anything to survive. He finds Potter, we find his location, and then we send all of the Death Eaters after him."

"All of them? That's a bit much for a mere boy." Lucius moved his knight out.

"We need to be rid of him once and for all. We can't mess up this time. We'll send all but three of our troops." Lucius nodded as Voldemort moved a bishop.

"And now, with Dumbledore out of the way, we have a clear path to Hogwarts."

"Yes, whenever that muggle lover talked to me, I wanted to… to… to zugzwang him." Lucius made violent gestures with his hands as he moved his bishop to take Voldemont's pawn.

Voldermort looked up. "Zugzwang? Zugzwang isn't a verb. It sounds more like an exclamation."

Lucius looked at the Lord with a smirk. "It isn't a verb yet. When we rule, I'll make it a verb."

Voldemort gave a small chuckle, "Whatever you say, Lucius. But, after we take out Potter, we can take out his little friends, especially that mudblood. I want to see her beg for her life as she watches her friends die in front of her." Voldemort slammed his pawn down own the board, causing the other pieces to shift slightly.

"That would bring me great pleasure, My Lord." Lucius moved his knight and took out another pawn.

The two fell into silence and the only noise that could be heard was the clicking of the pieces as they continued playing.

The silence was broken with the occasional murmur of check.

"Tomorrow we will start preparations for our attack. Gather the others for a meeting tomorrow night. Throw that boy out beforehand, however." Voldemort studied the board with impassive eyes, "Checkmate," he hissed.

Lucius looked at the board, "Indeed, My Lord."

Voldemort stood up quickly. "You are all my pawns, to be moved at my will. You'd all best remember that. Or else…" Voldemort looked at the black rook that was lying on the floor from when he knocked it off the table.

Lucius bowed and exited the room.

Voldemort looked out of the window before he, too, exited.

The triumphant king that was still standing on the chessboard moved. Tiny cracks appeared on it before the black coat fell away.

Underneath the paint, the king was white.

Fini

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Notes: This is a oneshot; no more chapters will be added. It may seem a little unfinished, but you can speculate what happened. 

It is kind of between HBP and the seventh book. Although we don't know what happens in the book yet…

Thank you, my lovely beta Kyogera

Toodles,

LWB


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